The World Food Summit
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As a Billion Starve, Key Solutions Could be Overlooked
The outcome of the UN’s World Summit on Food Security in Rome this week is crucial: the food security of our planet is in peril even as the number of hungry people on the planet has surpassed 1 billion.
In a report by the UK’s The Telegraph, a leaked draft of the Summit’s declaration calls only for vague increases in aid for farmers in poor countries rather than the kind of support they need.
Around the world there are millions of small-scale farmers and food producers with solutions in their hands to increase viable agriculture, feed local communities, and cool the planet through sustainable, low carbon farming methods. Their voices and contributions are in jeopardy of being ignored.
Hundreds of millions of people, many of whom live in the most marginalized areas of the world, are currently suffering the consequences of unsustainable food production practices, unpredictable weather patterns due to an already changing climate, and the loss of three quarters of the globe’s biodiversity. Small-scale farmers need to have their knowledge valued, to save their own seeds and the diversity at the heart of healthy food production, and to protect local ecosystems. They need the right kind of sustained investment to help them strengthen the resilience of their food production systems.
In addition to global political leaders – including Canada’s Minister for International Cooperation, the Honourable Beverley Oda – local farmers, food producers, and advocates proving the effectiveness of these sustainable farming methods will be attending the conference. The People’s Forum begins Friday November 13th, in advance of the UN’s World Summit on Food Security (November 16-18).
USC Canada’s Faris Ahmed, Director of Canadian Programs, will be at both conferences in Rome and will send regular dispatches via USC’s website. Ahmed will be available for interviews direct from Rome (Nov. 13-18). Also available are USC Canada’s Executive Director, Susan Walsh in Ottawa, representatives from USC partner organizations in developing countries, Nettie Wiebe of the National Farmers Union (Canada), and Pat Mooney of ETC Group (Canada).
Following the Rome conference, USC is helping organize Beyond Hunger and Profit – a special public forum in Ottawa (November 26, 2009) to discuss grassroots solutions to the global food crisis. For information visit www.usc-canada.org/beyondhunger. Several of the Canadian and international delegates to the Rome Food Summit (Nettie Wiebe, Pat Mooney) will be speaking at this forum in Ottawa.
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USC Canada
was founded by
Dr Lotta Hitschmanova in 1945. Our award-winning Seeds of Survival program promotes vibrant family farms, strong rural communities, and healthy ecosystems around the world.
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